


Lost Souls

by sauciemel



Series: Lost Souls [1]
Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-02
Updated: 2017-10-02
Packaged: 2019-01-07 22:25:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,448
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12241797
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sauciemel/pseuds/sauciemel
Summary: This story is one I wrote way back in 2011 so any typos or mis spelling is down to it not being beta read. I am moving my stories over from Live Journal to here.





	Lost Souls

**Author's Note:**

> This story is one I wrote way back in 2011 so any typos or mis spelling is down to it not being beta read. I am moving my stories over from Live Journal to here.

John was sat holding his mothers hand. She was dying.   
  
She had given him the book. He had read it to her many times over the past few weeks. It was the one thing she held on to. It was her one link to the man she loved. He had sacrificed himself so that the world would be safe.  
  
Then his mother took her last breath and spoke just one word. _‘John’_  
  
John looked at her, he knew it wasn’t aimed at him. She had thought of his father. He closed the book and set it aside and then cried and sobbed into his hands. He was alone in the world now.  
  
\---  
  
John was stood at his mother’s grave.   
  
****

**‘Here lies Joan Redfern. Beloved Mother, Grandmother, a joy to everyone.’  
‘She is at peace with her beloved John Smith who died in 1913’  
‘together always’**

  
  
He sniffed and wiped his eyes. He knew what had really happened to his father all those years ago.  
  
John Smith was a History teacher at the school. Joan and John had fallen in love. John had kept a journal of his dreams. But it turned out they weren’t dreams, but memories.   
  
John was infact a TimeLord in human form, hiding from a group of aliens called The Family of Blood. They found him and started shooting up the village. Then his maid. Martha, who was infact the TimeLord’s companion told him to open his fob watch. But it was gone. Tim Latimer had it. He brought it to the cottage.  
  
The place where John, Joan and Martha were hiding from the Family. Martha had given John the watch and he started to feel the essence of the TimeLord in his mind. He spoke like him. But he was scared, he didn’t want to die, he had found love with Joan. So Joan had told Martha and Tim to leave them. They sat down and for one moment both John and Joan placed their hands on the watch.  
  
They saw the life they could have. They looked at each other and knew they could never really have that life. The Family would kill everyone in the village. So John made the decision, he would give his life to save that of the whole village and the woman he loved.   
  
Joan looked at him and knew this was the last moment she would ever have with him. So they both gave in to their passion. They made love.   
  
Afterwards John kissed her and told her he loved her always and he left. He didn’t want her to see him die.  
  
It was morning when the Doctor, the TimeLord came back. He heart ached for him when she saw him. He looked like John. But the eyes were different, she saw a small glimpse of John but he was gone. The Doctor had asked her to travel with him, but she declined. So many people had died because the Doctor had chosen this place on a whim. So she bade him farewell.  
  
What he didn’t know, and neither did Joan at the time, was that John and Joan had made a child together that night.  
  
\---  
  
He had sat by and nursed her. She had other children from her first marriage, but they had grown up and left home. That was how Joan was working at the school. She left when she found out she was pregnant.  
  
She gave birth to John and raised him on her own. It was hard and she was frowned upon. But she had thick skin. She made a handful of friends and John had a normal human childhood. She kept the journal. She added to it over the years. One day she would hand it to John and maybe if ever got to meet this Doctor he could give him it back. In a way this Doctor was John’s dad too.   
  
They had survived the wars. John had been drafted for the second world war. He trained as a Doctor, ironic I know. But he helped save a lot of people. He nursed his mother as she had grown old and gotten ill.   
  
Now all those years later he was stood at her grave in the year 2009. They had soon realised he was different to any other person when he hit his early twenties. He had been involved in a motorbike accident. He had broke his leg and his collar bone. But within a week they had mended. So they knew he had taken on some trait from the Doctor. Then came the aging process, it had slowed down. He was stood there aged 91 and looked in his early thirties. It had came as a shock to him, when he was 21 his mother had given him the journal to read. Then he knew.   
  
\---  
  
Over time he had to tell people he was a great grandson of a family friend. Then he had met Verity Newman. His mother was her Great Grandmother. She had needed a place to stay and John as always offered. Verity had found his mother’s journal and read it. John had been shocked at first.  
  
But then he told her everything.   
  
John had thought she would think him a mad man. But when she looked at him. He had the same looks as the pictures drawn in the book of John, the hair, the smile. So she knew.  
  
“You cant tell anyone.” he had implored to her.  
  
“I know, but people should read this.”  
  
“Really? You think they’d be interested?”  
  
“Of course.”  
  
“Go on then.” he smiled.  
  
\---  
  
So it was that Verity wrote the **_Journal of Impossible Things._** The story of her Great Grandmother and her lost love.  
  
Then she had been shocked when the Doctor had turned up.  
  
She never got the chance to tell him he had a son. He had gone in the blink of an eye.  
  
John had left too, he had gone travelling, he wanted to be on his own. Verity had no way of reaching him either. She had to wait until John made contact with her.  
  
\---  
  
So it came to pass, that the Doctor had almost regenerated after he had seen Verity and his other friends. But Jack had stopped that. Bringing him his handy spare hand so he could heal himself and not have to change his face as he had already done once.  
  
The Doctor had healed himself and then put himself into a trance. The things he had experienced that Christmas had been hard for him. The Master coming back, the Ood stating his song was ending, The TimeLords and Gallifrey, then his Mother. It had been so painful for him. Then Wilfred, finding out he was the man who would bring about his death. So he had gone and seen his companions. Then he knew he had to see Verity, his hearts were heavy when he did, he had John’s memories. He spent a week locked away. The TARDIS had repaired herself too, after all the sparks and the column collapsing.  
  
The Doctor came out of his trance. He showered and changed into clean clothes, his blue suit. Then he made himself something to eat. Then he noticed the book.  
Verity’s book he picked it up. He knew what it was about, he had left his journal behind when he left Joan.  
  
He opened it and began to read. Being the Doctor he had read the whole thing in a few moments. His hearts were thumping by the end. Joan and John had a son, which meant ……………. He did too. He jumped up from his seat and headed for the console room.  
  
He had to find Verity, she must know. So he headed back to the bookstore.  
  
\---  
  
Verity had finished her book signing. It had gone quite well. She had told everyone it was based on a true story. But as usual she got the ‘Oh Right’ looks. She was waiting at the bus stop. When she felt the wind pick up. Then is stopped.  
  
\---  
  
The Doctor grabbed his long over coat and ran out of the TARIDS. He headed for the bookstore, but it was closed. He ran his hands frantically through his hair, leaving it pointing in all directions. Then he saw her. She was getting on the bus.  
  
He shuddered for a moment. The last bus ride he had been on hadn’t been pleasant. But he shook it off and headed to the bus stop.  
  
\---  
  
Verity saw her bus coming. She couldn’t wait to get home. She was going to email John, he would check his email and get in touch. She boarded her bus.  
  
\---  
  
The Doctor pulled his psychic paper out and swiped it against the oyster card machine. Then he spotted her. He walked up and plonked down beside her.  
  
Verity was looking out the window when she felt that someone had sat next to her. Then she turned and saw him.   
  
“We need to talk Miss Newman.”  
  
“We do that.” Verity answered.  
  
They got off at her stop. She led him into her little flat. it wasn’t much but it was home.  
  
The Doctor followed her.  
  
Verity opened the door, she threw he keys onto the table in the small hall. Then she hung her coat up. She headed into the kitchen and made tea. “Make yourself at home.”  
  
The Doctor went into the living room and sat down. He looked around.   
  
“Here.” Verity handed him a cup.  
  
“Thanks. You know you are the spitting image of your great Grandmother.”  
  
“I know, I have seen the pictures.”  
  
“Pictures?”  
  
“Yes, I will get you them.”  
  
They spent the next couple of hours looking at them. But there wasn’t any of John.  
  
“How old is John now?” the Doctor asked as they tidied the pictures away  
  
“91.”  
  
“Blimey. So where is he?”  
  
“Travelling.”  
  
“At his age?”  
  
“He doesn’t look it. He is the image of his father.”  
  
“That would be me.”  
  
“Really?”  
  
“Well John Smith is in here.” The Doctor tapped his head and then his hearts.  
  
“John doesn’t know that.”  
  
“I need to find him, he had TimeLord traits in him.”  
  
“He is a good man, Great Gran brought him up well.”  
  
“If I had known I would of …….”  
  
“I know. I was going to email him and tell him you had been in and gotten a copy of the book.”  
  
“You do that then. I need to find him.”  
  
“Ok.”  
  
\---  
  
Verity got her laptop out, she brought up her email account and then opened a new message.  
  
 _John,  
Hi, the book signing went well. I hope you are well. I don’t know how to put this so I will just come out with it. The Doctor turned up, your Dad. He took a copy of the book. He asked about Joan. He is sitting here with me now. You need to get in touch with me ASAP John. Please  
Love Verity_  
  
Then she pressed send.  
  
“It’s a waiting game now.”   
  
“It always is.”  
  
\---  
  
John had travelled to Australia. He had been here a week, he was in Sydney. He had saw an Opera at the Opera House. Walked around the city. He found himself wandering to the Internet Café. He knew Verity would be worried about him. He also wanted to know how the book signing had gone.  
  
He got himself a coffee and sat down at the computer. He brought his email account up, he had an email from her.  
  
He opened it and read it.  
  
He gasped. The Doctor was there, he looked at his watch, she had sent the email 20 minutes ago. So he sent one back  
  
 _Verity.  
Hi, glad it went well, I am fine, I am in Sydney, so The Doctor eh, he is there with you. I don’t know what to say. I do want to see him. That’s if he wants to see me.  
Love John_  
  
He hit the send button.  
  
\---  
  
Verity had made another cuppa when she heard a ping.  
  
The Doctor looked at her and then the laptop. She went over and read the email.  
  
“He wants to meet you, if you want to meet him.”  
  
“Oh I do want to meet him. Does he say where he is?”  
  
“Sydney.”  
  
“Ok, tell him to meet us at the Opera house in twenty minutes.”  
  
“Twenty minutes?”  
  
“Yes.”  
  
“Ok.”  
  
\---  
  
John drank his coffee when he heard a ping, he opened the message. He was to meet them at opera house in twenty minutes. He sent a message back saying he would. Then he logged off and headed for the opera house.  
  
\---  
  
Verity got the message and then she and the Doctor headed back to the book store.  
  
“Why are we here?”  
  
“TARDIS.”  
  
“Really?”  
  
“How else do you think we would get there in twenty minutes.”  
  
“Ok.”  
  
The Doctor opened the door and gestured for her to go in.  
  
Her mouth almost hit the floor. It was huge inside. She slowly moved up the ramp.   
  
The Doctor looked at her. He loved the moment when someone saw the inside of the TARDIS for the first time. He threw his coat over the handrail and headed up to the console.   
  
“Wow.”  
  
The Doctor smiled. “It’s a time machine and a space ship.”  
  
Verity just nodded.  
  
The Doctor then punched in the co-ordinates and set off for Sydney.  
  
\---  
  
John was sat on the steps. He looked at his watch. Twenty five minutes had past.  
  
\---  
  
The Doctor grabbed onto the console as the TARDIS flew.  
  
Verity clutched at the handrail. “Blimey it’s bumpy isn’t it?”  
  
“Can be.” The Doctor said as the TARDIS landed. The Doctor then ran down the ramp and opened the door. “You coming?”  
  
She nodded and followed the Doctor.   
  
“Wow, we are really in Sydney?”  
  
“Where else did you think?”  
  
“Well, you know.”  
  
The Doctor sighed and walked away.  
  
\---  
  
John was just getting up when he saw him. He froze for a second. Could he really do this. His heart was thumping in his chest.  
  
The Doctor walked round a bend and then he crossed the road and headed to the Opera house. He saw him, he was standing on the steps. The Doctor slowed down.  
  
Verity had to jog slightly to keep up with The Doctor, then she saw John. She also noticed the Doctor slow up. She sped past the Doctor and went to John.  
  
She hugged him hard.  
  
John felt the hug, then he relaxed a little. “Hey you.” he smiled at her.  
  
“Hey. You ok?”  
  
“I don’t know.” he gulped.  
  
The Doctor was stood at the bottom of the steps. “John.”  
  
“Erm, Doctor.”  
  
They shook hands.  
  
Verity stayed back. “Why don’t we go grab a coffee?”  
  
The Doctor and John nodded.  
  
\---  
  
They found a nice little café. They sat outside, and looked around at the view. It was a beautiful place, I had always want to visit Australia. John and The Doctor just sat in silence. It was horrible, they both had so much they wanted to say, but they didn’t know how to say it.  
  
\---  
  
The Doctor didn’t know where to start. He couldn’t just say, _‘Hi I am your Dad as much as John Smith was.’_  
  
John looked at the Doctor, it was like looking in a mirror. It was surreal, he was exactly like his sketch in the journal. John reached down into the bag he had. He took out the journal.  
  
“Doctor.”  
  
The Doctor looked up as John spoke. “Yes.”  
  
“Mum wanted me to give you this back.” John handed the journal over.  
  
The Doctor took it and then he was hit by images.  
  
He saw John’s past, his upbringing. How he nursed his mother. How she had explained that even though John had sacrificed his life she loved the Doctor too. But she couldn’t have gone with him. Her place was on Earth. John knew that John Smith and The Doctor were his father.   
  
The Doctor came back to Earth, he blinked and looked at John. “Did you see?”  
  
John nodded. “Doctor…….”  
  
“Yes?”  
  
“What am I exactly?”  
  
“I don’t know. But we can find out, if you like?”  
  
“Yeah, I want to.”  
  
They finished their coffees and headed to the TARDIS  
  
\---  
  
“Wow.” John placed his hands on the outside and he felt it, something in his mind. “What’s that?”  
  
“That is the TARDIS, welcoming you home.”  
  
“Home?”  
  
“Yes, you are a part of me and I am a part of the TARDIS, we are connected.”  
  
“Ok.”  
  
The Doctor opened the door and they all stepped in.  
  
As soon as he stepped over the threshold he felt it. The warmth, the security. He felt like….. Well like he was home.  
  
“You felt it didn’t you?”  
  
“Felt what?”  
  
“Like your home. In the right place?”  
  
John nodded his head.  
  
“Come with me.” The Doctor walked ahead.  
  
Verity just sat on the battered old chair that was there and waited.  
  
\---  
  
The Doctor took John into the med lab.  
  
“I need to run a few tests.”  
  
“Ok, I don’t have two hearts, I only have one. I know that.”  
  
“Ok, but you don’t age like a human. I saw the accident you had. Have you had a MRI, body scan?”  
  
“No, didn’t have them when I had the crash.”  
  
“Ok lie down so I can take a look. It wont hurt.” The Doctor placed a hand on John’s shoulder to reassure him.  
  
John lay down and closed his eyes.  
  
The Doctor reached into his pocket and pulled his glasses out and placed them on. Then he set the scan in motion and brought up his stats. He looked at them then the scan was done. He brought them up on a screen. “There.” The Doctor pointed.  
  
“What?” John opened his eyes and looked at the screen.  
  
“You do have two hearts, just that one isn’t working, hasn’t ever worked.”  
  
“Why?”  
  
“I don’t know. Must be because I was in human form but I had held the fob watch I had touched it as my essence was trying to get out. Then we shared those images and then we made you.” The Doctor looked at John.  
  
“You remember it all?”  
  
“Every moment. I don’t regret it. I only regret the people that had to die. John was a very brave man.”  
  
“So are you. You are him and he is you right?”  
  
The Doctor nodded.  
  
“So you’re my Dad?”  
  
“I am.”  
  
“Ok ….. Dad, how do we start my other heart?”  
  
“That’s easy, but do you want me to?”  
  
“Yes.”  
  
The Doctor beamed him a big smile. “Sit up.”  
  
John did as he was asked.   
  
“It may hurt a little.” then the Doctor whacked him on the back, he did this three times. Then he felt it. He gasped as the blood pumped through his new heart and round his body. He shook.  
  
“John, John. Its ok, just breathe. It will pass.” The Doctor placed his hands on him.  
  
John looked into his father’s eyes. “Wow, that feels. I feel everything.”  
  
“I know.” The Doctor smiled.  
  
“This is what a TimeLord is?”  
  
“Oh a TimeLord is a lot of things. I could teach you and show you if you like?”  
  
“Really?”  
  
“Yes, I have spent all these years believing I was the last of the TimeLords and you have been here all along. I want my son to learn all he can about who and what the TimeLords were, not what they become.”  
  
“You mean what happened at Christmas?”  
  
“How?”  
  
“I saw your memories as you saw mine. You have been through so much Dad. You lost so many people. I think we are two lost souls who need each other.”  
  
“Yeah, your right.”  
  
“So how about it then. The Doctor and his Son in the TARDIS, travelling?”  
  
“I cant think of anything better.”  
  
“I think we should take Verity home first.”  
  
“Let’s take her on an adventure first, I mean if she hadn’t wrote that book I would never have known about you.”  
  
“Your right.”  
  
“I usually am. Lets go tell her the good news.”  
  
John and The Doctor headed to the console room  
  
\---  
  
Verity turned as she heard them come in. “You ok?”  
  
“Am fine, brilliant. I have my father with me.”  
  
“Good. So what now?” she stood up.  
  
“Well, I was wondering.” The Doctor placed his hands in his pocket and headed towards Verity. “If you fancied a trip in the TARDIS? Anywhere or any when you want. As a thank you for bring me and John together.”  
  
“Really?”  
  
“Yup.”  
  
“That’s brilliant.” she threw her arms around the Doctor. Then she blushed and let go.   
  
“Ok, so where do you want to go???”  
  
 **To Be Concluded in A LEOPARD CANT CHANGE HIS SPOTS**


End file.
